What we learned as Brazil battered Argentina en route to 3-0 win

Brazil absolutely dominated an extremely poor Argentina side en route to a 3-0 match that they controlled from start to finish. A stunning opening goal from Philippe Coutinho was followed up by a strike from Neymar before half time, and the match just about could have ended just as soon as Brazil scored their third goal at the hour mark, and thanks to that dominance Brazil stands atop the CONMEBOL table for World Cup qualification once more.

It was a shockingly poor match from Argentina, who actually started the match somewhat brightly, using pace and long balls over the top to create some early danger in the opening minutes. A lack of quality in actually moving the ball around in the final third kept the Albiceleste from actually capitalizing on those chances, though, and that doomed them in the end.

After a few Brazil attacks starting around the 15th minute that should have sent up warning signs with how easily they upset the balance of Argentina’s defense, Philippe Coutinho made a darting run into the final third and through their backline with ease. While he’s always a threat to score from range, Argentina for some reason didn’t close the Brazilian attacker down anywhere near well enough, and he punished them with an astoundingly good finish from the edge of the penalty area that almost drove through the back of the net.

From there, it was all Brazil, all the time. A second goal from the hosts was inevitable, and it was little shock when another defensive breakdown from Argentina handed a goal to Neymar just before halftime. Argentina manager Edgardo Bauza tried to make an aggressive substitution by throwing on Sergio Agüero at halftime, and while that let Argentina look more dangerous for a few minutes, it wasn’t long before Brazil were dominating once more.

Brazil nearly had an unlikely scorer in Paulinho in the 55th minute when it took a tremendous goal line clearance from Pablo Zabaleta to keep the score at 2-0, but four minutes later Zabaleta was too far away to keep the midfielder from making it 3-0. That moment was, essentially, the end of the match, with Brazil able to easily control the flow of the game until the final whistle.

Argentina just didn’t have any answers to what Brazil threw at them all game long, and the final scoreline could easily have been much wider than it was. The performance from Brazil was just as fantastic as Argentina’s was poor, and Brazil absolutely deserve to stand on top of CONMEBOL’s qualifying standings after that match.

Brazil: Alisson; Dani Alves, Marquinhos, João Miranda (Thiago Silva 87’), Marcelo; Paulinho, Fernandinho, Renato Augusto; Philippe Coutinho (Douglas Costa 85’), Gabriel Jesus (Roberto Firmino 82’), Neymar

Goals: Coutinho (25’), Neymar (45’+1), Paulinho (59’)

Argentina: Sergio Romero; Pablo Zabaleta, Nicolás Otamendi, Ramiro Funes Mori, Emmanuel Más; Enzo Pérez (Sergio Agüero 46’); Lucas Biglia, Javier Mascherano, Ángel Di María (Ángel Correa 71’); Gonzalo Higuain, Lionel Messi

Goals: None

We often hear about Neymar being the best player on the Brazil squad, and while that’s certainly true, the second-best player may not be as far behind him as you might think. Coutinho has been in fantastic form for Liverpool in the English Premier League this season, and that form continued in a big way against Argentina in this match. He was a major part of all of Brazil’s most dangerous attacks, and his movement and outrageously good finish on Brazil’s opening goal were absolutely jaw-dropping:

Get ready for a lot of people to start profusely praising Coutinho in the near future, because he’s becoming a big-time star right in front of our eyes.

As soon as the Argentina lineup was announced, it was obvious that they were going to have problems in this match. The lineup, featuring a defense of players who were out of form — or in the case of Emmanuel Más, just not good enough — and an extremely defensive midfield, including winger Enzo Pérez, lacked anything like the creativity needed to break down Brazil’s excellent defense, forcing Lionel Messi to drop far too deep far too often. Even when Kun Agüero came on in the second half it was obvious that Argentina didn’t have what it took to get anything out of this match, especially once frustration set in in a bad way after Brazil’s third goal.

This loss coupled with results further up the table leaves Argentina’s hopes of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in a bad place — as if the fact that they’re hoping to qualify instead of having it just about wrapped up by now wasn’t bad enough. With seven matches remaining in qualifying, Argentina are one point behind Chile just to get into the intercontinental playoff spot, and a full eight points behind newly qualifying leaders Brazil. Now, there’s a lot of time left for Argentina to get the points they need, but their next two qualifying matches against Colombia and Chile won’t be any easier than this game was, and if they drop more points in those matches, things will go from bad to desperate for the Albiceleste.